Miss Lu stood behind the screen, twisting her hands in front of her.
Listening to Zhu Pingniang’s words, she thought to herself that her sister was at it again.
Zhu Pingniang always liked to ask the girls entering the Flower Moon Building about their wishes, and almost every girl she acknowledged couldn’t escape this process.
Don’t misunderstand, Zhu Pingniang wasn’t so do-gooder who would actively help the girls fulfill their wishes.
She simply asked.
Miss Lu once asked Zhu Pingniang why she did it... the answer she received only made her more certain her sister was a "bad woman."
According to Zhu Pingniang, the act of reflecting on wishes in the Flower Moon Building was essentially no different from recounting painful pasts, except one is rembering pain, and the other is entrusting hopes for the future.
But in most cases, one could catch a glimpse of a courtesan’s past from the things she wished for.
So, even though Zhu Pingniang asked Ah Qing about her wish with a smile, in reality, it was a subtle, unobtrusive way to partially open her wounds herself.
For the girls in the brothel, all past wishes about love and literature, about everything they once hoped for, vanished in the repeated toasts with custors.
Their beautiful wishes, with every clink of glasses, turned into shattered sounds.
At this mont, what could be more cruel than placing their dreams before them once more?
What Zhu Pingniang was doing now was exactly that.
So Miss Lu fully understood why Qingluo didn’t like the zither.
The Seven-Stringed Zither was one of the Six Arts for Won that Liu Qingluo learned in her youth before she fell into Wanzhi Building.
Once sothing she loved, she likely dreamt of a stable life as a young girl, hoping to play the zither for her husband by a small bridge over flowing water.
But who would have thought that after falling into the brothel, her skill with the zither lost its elegance and youthful sweetness, turning into sothing that raised her value.
Relying on her sowhat gifted zither skill, she didn’t fall to selling her looks, holding out until she caught Zhu Pingniang’s eye, losing the courtesan title, becoming the most ordinary musician in the Flower Moon Building.
Qingluo was lucky.
But what about her zither skills?
Indeed, the presence of her zither skills protected her chastity, but what they cost her, why she dared not touch them, only Qingluo knew.
Thus, after redeeming herself, Liu Qingluo never touched her seven strings again.
Miss Lu looked down at her crimson embroidered shoes, sighing.
That’s why she said her sister was a very cruel person, a bad woman.
She used to be unsure if what her sister did was right or wrong, but... if the girls in the brothel couldn’t face their past, they really wouldn’t have a future.
Hmm, the current Miss Lu believes her sister is right.
But it’s not that she thinks because she was asked about her wish by Zhu Pingniang, Ah Qing should also be.
Moreover, based on her experience, as long as one lives in the Flower Moon Building for more than three years, the wishes deep in their hearts will change drastically.
At that ti... Zhu Pingniang would compare their wishes before and after, then boast about her accomplishnts.
So when Zhu Pingniang asked, Miss Lu already envisaged a future where Zhu Pingniang would hold her hand and boast about turning Ah Qing from a dispirited girl into a cheerful one.
Thinking carefully, Zhu Pingniang wasn’t entirely bullying, after all, once she knew the girls’ wishes, she could use them as rewards for better managent.
The problem is, not all girls’ wishes can be used as rewards or motivation.
Girls who wished for silver coins and material things were the simplest.
More difficult were those who wanted to know their own origins.
And so wishes were ones Zhu Pingniang couldn’t fulfill, nor wanted to, only giving her a headache.
Miss Lu thought she used to be the one who gave her sister a headache.
She looked towards Ah Qing.
What wish would this half-demon girl have?
——
In the room, following Zhu Pingniang’s inquiry, the atmosphere gradually beca stiff.
Ah Qing listened to her question, stood there lowering her head, hands behind her back, deep in thought.
So Zhu Pingniang was quite puzzled.
She routinely asked, but seldom saw the girls think for so long.
Usually, those who pondered for so long...
Were those with no desires or knowledge of what they wanted—
For example, girls who grew up in the Flower Moon Building mostly didn’t know what they wanted, and after much thought, would often simply say they’d like to stay in the Flower Moon Building to make money for Ms. Zhu—an answer that delighted Zhu Pingniang imnsely.
Apart from these, only girls with too many thoughts, wanting too many things.
Wanting too many things, knowing she might fulfill their wishes, they hesitated, unsure of which to say aloud —
Liu Qingluo was such a girl.
Yes, when Liu Qingluo was redeed and brought into the Flower Moon Building from Wanzhi Building, she wanted many things.
But oddly enough, she was a girl who wanted everything and learned to let go instead.
Thus, Zhu Pingniang frequently wondered if there was sothing wrong with her educational thods.
Perhaps, persuading people at a nunnery to abstain from desires might work wonders?
Ahem.
Overthought it.
She refocused her gaze on the stunned Ah Qing.
Ah Qing, like Qingluo, had endured all sorts of hardships, and in difficulty, many wishes naturally arose, so she thought Ah Qing would be the latter—having many wishes and choosing among them.
So Zhu Pingniang patiently waited a while longer.
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